GM27S Motorcycle Helmet An Open-Face with Silver Flame - GMAX

The GMAX GM27S has good quality and an interesting design.

It includes a 3-position LED light in the rear.

The GMAX GM27S makes an excellent city, dual-sport or scooter helmet.

The huge popularity of the GMAX GM68S, the webBikeWorld 2007 Helmet of the Year, prompted us to take a look at some of the other helmets in the GMAX lineup, and the GM 27 popped out as something out of the ordinary.

The GM 27 (aka GM27S) is an open face helmet with a twist.

It’s sort of a cross between a typical 3/4 or open-face helmet and the GM 68S, with its huge intake and exhaust vents and the LED lights in the rear.

But the GM 27S includes a built-in visor or peak, similar to an dual-sport helmet like the Arai XD33 (review), the Shoei Hornet (review) and others.

It’s curious that GMAX would create a design like the GM 27S, using an open-face “chassis”, if you will, rather than using a full-face helmet so they could end up with an Enduro version.

But, I guess you could at least say that they now own the market for unique open-face motorcycle helmet designs…

Actually, the GM 27S looks a lot like a helmet designed for motorcycle trials, if you’ve ever seen one of those.

At the risk of stealing my own thunder, I’ll let you in on my two lasting impressions of the GMAX GM 27S after wearing it for the past few weeks.

First, I think that it makes one of the best low-speed city or scooter helmets you’ll find, due to its comfort, ease of use and, of course, the LED lights in the rear, which certainly add a safety factor for riding on city streets.

OK, so what’s my second impression? Noise.

The reason I used the “low speed” qualifier in the sentence above is because over about 40 MPH or so, the GM 27S becomes very noisy when riding behind anything outside of a full barn-door fairing.

Everyone who has tried the helmet agrees, yet it’s difficult to tell where the noise is coming from — but it’s there.

So keep it slow and if you’re bopping around in the city or suburbs on your scooter or courier bike, the GMAX GM 27S is definitely worth a look.